Some Mexican Plantations. 



1 have in a previous publication (Bulletin II, La Zacualpa 

 Botanical Station, " Notes on Rubber Culture in Mexico") tenta- 

 tively divided Mexico into a number of rubber districts, the 

 northernmost being that of Tierra Blanca, in the State of Vera Cruz. 

 The number of plantations in this district is small. Among these 

 may be mentioned Hacienda Yale, owned by a number of former 

 students of Yale University, and La Esperanza, first started by 

 Mr. Geo. Cullen Pearson, representing British capital. 



Not far from Perez station on the \'era Cruz and Pacific 

 railroad is the Playa Vicente district, containing several small 

 plantations. In this neighbourhood, along the Papaloapan river, 

 are a number of other rubber plantations which all can go under 

 the name of the Tuztepec district. 



Further south, and not very far from Santa Lucrecia we have 

 the important Trinidad River district. This is often included in 

 the general term of " the Isthmus," but conditions are in many 

 respects diflfering from those on the Isthmus proper. This latter 

 is a very large district comprising the rubber country along the 

 National Tehuantepec railroad, and along the Coatzacoalcos river 

 or its tributaries. 



One of the largest plantations on the Isthmus is Rubio, situ- 

 ated some distance from the township of Minatitlan. It is owned 

 by the Tehuantepec Rubber Company of New York. Its able 

 manager is Mr. A. B. Luther, who has had a long Merican expe- 

 rience, and also has studied conditions in the South American 

 rubber districts. Rubio plantation has some 3,000 acres under 

 rubber. Oaxaqueha, Colombia and Del Corte are some of the other 

 larger rubber plantations in the district. 



In the Trinidad River district the largest plantation is La 

 Junta, owned by the Mexican Mutual Planter's Association, of 

 Chicago. It has some 4,500 acres under rubber besides a large 

 acreage in cofifee and cacao. Its manager is Mr. J. C. Harvey, 

 who also is part owner of an adjoining rubber plantation, Buena 

 Ventura. Here Mr. Harvey, who is very much interested in 

 botany, has a small botanic garden of his own, the only one, in fact, 

 in the country. Some fifty different species of palms, a good sized 

 collection of native and foreign orchids, many economic plants, 

 and ornamental trees and shrubs surround his house. The only 

 Para trees yet grown in Mexico are to be found here, and are 

 Mr. Harvey s special treasures. Many of the trees and plants in 

 this collection are raised from seeds obtained from Singapore 

 Botanic Gardens, with the Director of which Mr. Harvey is in 

 frequent correspondence. 



Another very extensive rubber district is situated along the 

 Grijalva river, and the Usumacinta river system constitutes a 

 district covering a large area. Lastly on the Pacific slope of 

 Chiapas, between the towns of Pijijiapan and Tapachula, we have 

 the Zacualpa district, very limited in area. 



Some eighteen years ago t'elaez, then owner of La Zacualpa, 

 in Soconusco, planted rubber as shade for cacao, and of these trees 



